LEAPTRADE – Game Trading Website Review

With the demise of the game trading website Goozex earlier this year, gamers are looking for alternate venues to trade their used games. The old standards of Amazon, Gamestop and eBay are still there but a relatively new site called Leaptrade is hoping to fill the gap left by Goozex. Dusty Cartridges took a look at Leaptrade’s features to see how it stacks up when compared to the competition.

The first thing that makes Leaptrade stand out from most game trading sites is that it lists its game prices clearly. Most other trading sites use a point system where games are given a value in points or “Stars” rather than dollars. Leaptrade does away with that and lists games in actual money. The lowest price of any game is five dollars and the prices go up in increments of $2.50.

Sellers will find that they can trade in a game on Leaptrade for significantly more than they could at Gamestop or Best Buy. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because retail chains are renown for offering paltry sums for used games. The drawback is that Leaptrade sellers can only trade a game in if there is a buyer who requests the game.

Ultimately,Leaptrade is competing with Amazon and eBay to attract sellers. Amazon and eBay allow sellers to set their own prices, but Leaptrade does not. Games are traded in for a set price, no negotiation, no bidding, and it is the same no matter what condition the game is in.

Games generally sell for slightly more on Leaptrade than on Amazon. This is somehwat counterbalanced by the fact that sellers pay for the shipping on Leaptrade, as opposed to the way that Amazon makes buyers pay for shipping. Amazon also charges a fee to sellers, but Leaptrade only charges for shipping. The drawbacks are that the money can only be spent on other games at Leaptrade.

Leaptrade does not charge a fee per trade, the only fee is $3.49 for shipping (In the U.S.) which is paid by the seller. Sellers can’t pay for shipping with credit earned by trading in the game, they have to use real money from an outside source like Amazon payments or Paypal.

Buyers will find that they’re usually spending a little more for games on Leaptrade than elsewhere, but they aren’t paying for shipping or sales tax, so this mitigates most of difference. Buyers can also buy credit directly from the site, so they don’t have to trade in games of the exact value as the game they want to buy.

Of course, the system is set up around trading, so users are encouraged to both buy and sell by creating lists of the games they have available, and the games they want. On the front page of the website there is a list of games that are available, and a separate list of games that people want, so users can manually select what they want to trade in or buy. There’s also a match-matching system that’s handled automatically, but both parties have the chance to confirm before the trade goes through.

New accounts have to trade in their games for credit, but once a user has made a few transactions they’ll be able to make direct trades with other users.

Some older game trading sites would offer free credits to anyone who signed up, and this resulted in a system where lots of users were just there to get free games without ever trading anything. Leaptrade has some incentives to get people to join, and at the moment users will get a five dollars credit just for signing up, plus a five dollar credit the first time they trade a game in. This system could easily be exploited. However, during our trial there was an abundance of games available and most buyers had several transactions on their account, so it seems like users aren’t gaming the system.

The main problem that Dusty Cartridges encountered during our trial involved shipping issues. Sellers use a pre-paid shipping label that is printed out from the website, and we found that some of the games we sent out took an inordinate amount of time to reach the buyer. Likewise we had a package that was in limbo for a few days on its way to us. There is a system for leaving feedback on users, but it’s difficult to see this feedback before accepting a trade. Amazon and eBay make it relatively simple to spot an unreliable seller when compared to Leaptrade’s system.

There are also a few issues with pricing on Leaptrade; some games are wildly over-priced and others are drastically underpriced. Zero Escape, the cult 3DS game is priced at five dollars on Leaptrade, but it costs over five times that on either Amazon or eBay. This results in a long queue to buy the underpriced games, but no sellers. With overpriced games, there are plenty of copies for sale, but no buyers, and the users don’t have the option of haggling with each other.

Another problem is that recent releases are sold at full retail price, even going so far as to round up a few cents to the nearest dollar. Almost anywhere else a used game will have some sort of discount. Leaptrade does help some buyers weasel their way out of paying sales tax, though.

Despite a few issues with the shipping, and some pricing concerns, our experience with Leaptrade was generally positive. It’s a significantly better experience than trading with retail stores, and savvy users can get a slightly better value when compared to Amazon and eBay. The bonus credits for signing up and making the first trade sweeten the deal. Leaptrade is definitely worth a try for gamers who routinely trade in games or who have a stack of old games lying around.

* Dusty Cartridges was provided a press account with credit for review purposes.

3 Comments

That’s a pretty fair review of Leaptrade. I’ve been a member since Goozex crashed and burned and my experience there has been 99% positive. I have just completed another trade there actually. That makes 9 trades since January. Nice bunch of traders there right now too for the most part.